Soup n' Such

So much to blog about, but truly, so little time...


As Tracy mentioned in her post, it's gotten so cold that soup is an ideal meal. I pulled out Nava Atlas' Vegetarian Soups for All Seasons and made a Creamy Golden Potato Squash Soup. It was so silky and smooth! One thing this recipe made me realize is to not use the crumbled bay leaves that came with my spice set - there's a reason why recipes always say to remove the whole bay leaf before serving (obviously not possible with the bits I have)...those things do not soften up and result in little irritating pieces with every bite.



Another delicious soup was courtesy of one of Sarah Kramer's books - Auntie Bonnie's Black Bean Soup. Delicious! The addition of vinegar was genius! It offered the perfect amount of tang! I was also impressed with how easy it was to put this together.



And still on the whole fall theme...time for pumpkin scones! Some pie pumpkins grew on their own in our garden thanks to our compost pile (I guess some of last year`s pie pumpkins' seeds germinated!), so I roasted them up and made Pumpkin Scones!



Fall also means Thanksgiving. I'm so late in posting my feast, and the pic is of my plate of leftovers! I'm terrible! But I was more concerned with eating my meal than taking a pic of it while the little girl was happy! I made Dreena Burton's Rosemary Tofu Balls into cutlets (I thought they were too spicy but everyone seemed to like them!), and served them with maple-ginger winter squash, mashed potatoes, stuffing and veggies.



And finally, it was little Ash's baptism. We had a big shindig at my mom's after the ceremony, which initially had me a little stressed since I wanted to make lots of food (including a dessert) but would have no time. I decided to outsource the dessert and proceeded to try and find somewhere that could make some kind of vegan cake. I searched on the web for places in Ottawa, but had no luck - one bakery told me they could do vegan, but to expect it to taste 'dry and bland' (what???) and to make a small cake for the few vegans at the party and do a non-vegan cake for everyone else. I knew there had to be a better option out there! Thank goodness one of the moms in my mom's group sent me a link to Lil' Cakes. They were able to do all sorts of vegan cupcakes for me!


I was indifferent about the whole ceremony, but super excited for the five dozen cupcakes that were waiting for us! There was vanilla with buttercream, vanilla with raspberry mousse filling, chocolate with chocolate mousse, pumpkin chocolate chip and gingerbread with lemon buttercream. Best of all, they were absolutely beautiful AND delicious! I think I might need to establish a weekly standing order for cupcakes...

Pumpk'd

It's definitely harvest time! I bought six pie pumpkins from Farm Boy and spent my holiday Monday roasting...


Puréeing and packaging...


and Muffining! I tweaked the VwaV Best Pumpkin Muffins Ever recipe to use whole wheat flour, egg replacer and some applesauce that would have otherwise rotted in the fridge (it was still fresh when I used it!). They were amazing. I also made a Pumpkin Pie for Thanksgiving, but I ate all evidence of that.


I also tweaked my own recipe for Pumpkin Scones. I cut out circles, and instead of using the Drizzle part of the recipe (I was getting lazy at this point), I just sprinkled some cinnamon on top of the icing.


With all of that, I STILL have loads of pumpkin left over to store in the freezer to make more yummy pumpkin treats throughout the winter - hooray!

Sarah vs. Major Coffeehouse

Kyle and I are huge fans of a certain major coffeehouse. Despite making lots of treats for my beau, he often orders a pumpkin scone with every drive-thru order. If you have read this blog, you will see that I love to cook. And it's not like I'm jealous or something, but I like to make treats that make my sweetie happy. As a result, I had to compete with the major coffeehouse and make my own darn pumpkin scone at home that would mimic what he probably pays 3 bucks each time for.

So here was my attempt. Based on Kyle's description of what he bought, I think it's pretty close. Kyle said it was similar but more moist, as the ones he would buy were probably baked elsewhere and shipped to the store, causing it to be not as fresh. The recipe calls for two kinds of 'icing' (glaze and a drizzle), as that's what the original scone features, but to cut down on the work, you could make only the glaze and add the spices to that and avoid the drizzle part.

Pumpkin Scones

4 cups whole wheat flour
½ cup sugar
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup Earth Balance margarine
1 cup pumpkin purée
¼ - ½ cup soy creamer (use less if using fresh pumpkin purée, add more if using canned pumpkin)

Glaze:
1 cup icing sugar
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1-2 tablespoons soy creamer

Drizzle:
1 cup icing sugar
2 tablespoons soy creamer
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch each of ginger and nutmeg

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, spices and salt. Use a pastry blender to add in Earth Balance until thoroughly mixed. In another large bowl, whisk together pumpkin and soy creamer.

Add combined dry ingredients to pumpkin mixture. Mix, then form into 2 balls of dough. Pat out one ball of dough onto a lightly floured surface and form it into a 10-inch circle. Use pizza wheel to cut dough into six wedges. Transfer wedges to a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Repeat with second ball of dough.

Bake until golden for 15 minutes. Transfer baked scones to a wire rack to cool, with parchment or wax paper underneath to catch drips.

While scones cool, prepare glaze. Mix until smooth. Spread about 1 tablespoon of glaze on each scone as it cools. Prepare drizzle mixture, and use a fork to drizzle each scone decoratively.

Makes 12 scones.

Greece-Italy-France - All in One Night!

I think I'm coming down with a cold, but that didn't stop me from making a tasty meal! I made one of my favourite vegan salads that is meant to mimic a caesar salad. No idea where I got the recipe from, but it involved ground almonds, nutritional yeast, soy sauce, olive oil, lemon juice and garlic. No anchovies there!


For the main course, I made a quick and tasty comfort food from Shelley Null's Healthy Cooking for Kids. I didn't really realize that it was mostly vegan until I bought it years ago, and I thought it was a great book for a fussy vegan like me, who sometimes acts like a big kid. These are Mario's Stuffed Shells - basically, I puréed extra-firm silken tofu with garlic and onion powder, and spooned it into cooked jumbo pasta shells and arranged in a greased 9x13 pan. I covered it with a jar of pasta sauce, put foil on top, and baked for 30 minutes at 450 degrees.


For dessert, I had made Glazed Orange Scones from VwaV. Wow - amazing. They are very similar to a favourite Xmas cookie that my family makes, so it was almost like getting an early taste of what will come when I do my Xmas baking next weekend! Kyle, Tracy and Pete taste tested, and the feedback was very positive. Given my success as a scone maker, I'm going to try and make a pumpkin scone next, since Kyle has been buying them lately from Starbucks, and I want to see if I can compete with them!